An Encounter of a Quillie Kind

We all know about porcupines and how you want to avoid them as they have very sharp quills. Here are a few quick facts about the porcupine that you may or may not know. Their quills are actually modified hairs and they have thousands of them on their back. They like to munch on a variety of trees and are frequently found in bushes or trees. Porcupines like to sit quietly in trees so if you see one in a tree you should be able to get a good look at it. They are nocturnal so they are out primarily at night and are hard to see when they waddle along a road. Baby porcupines are called porcupettes. Quite the name!

How does the porcupine protect itself? Many of us think that they shoot their quills at their enemy, but this is not so. Their quills typically lie flat until they are threatened. When threatened the quills “leap to attention” as a deterrent to the predator. The porcupine cannot “shoot” the quills but they detach easily if touched. The porcupine will strike the predator with its tail and the easily detachable quills will become embedded in the attacker – which is how poor Willie had a long lesson to learn.

Over the years I have heard of dogs having encounters with a porcupine, with some dogs losing their lives as there were just too many quills to deal with. Quills can move through muscle and ultimately penetrate body cavities and internal organs. This is one of the reasons that it is very important to get your pet to a vet asap if they have a run in with a porcupine. The only encounter we have had over the years was with our Shetland pony, Tonka – he decided to snoop around and got about 12 quills in his nose. Now that was a task getting those quills out of his nose.

We aren’t exactly sure what happened with all of the quills that Willie encountered, but this is what we think happened and how he had an encounter he wished had never happened.

We presently have 3 dogs that live with us. An older dog, Maci – who likes to be inside and then my little miniature schnauzer, Benny (who is very curious) and our daughter’s dog Willie; that spends a lot of time at the farm with us.

It was later in the evening, early November – around 10:30 pm, which matches with the nocturnal porcupine fact. We were sitting outside as it was still a relatively nice evening with the outdoor heater on. Willie and Benny were outside exploring and Maci was indoors. All of a sudden the dogs came running up on the deck and we looked down and we could see that there was something wrong with Willie. They had encountered a porcupine. Benny was fortunate – he only had a couple in him and were relatively easy for my husband to remove. Poor Willie was another story. This is what we think happened.

Willie is very gangly and growing into his body and is the exact opposite of graceful. He would have been running and couldn’t get his brakes on quick enough and plowed right into that porcupine. Normally most quills are on the face or inside the mouth. Not for Willie. His chest was completely covered in quills. Well over a hundred – we wish now we had counted all of the quills that the vet took out the next day. And this began the long road to recovery for Willie.

This encounter led us to purchasing a cone for Willie to start wearing as well as drugs for pain and antibiotics in case of infection. Over the next couple of weeks, we continued to find quills in him. A couple more trips to the vet and more drugs. Next, his eye started to swell and look sore. Another trip you guessed it – to the vet. More antibiotics. Keep wearing the cone. We have now entered the new year of 2024 and are still dealing with the quills. Willie’s eye became so infected we had to take him back to the veterinary. We had been administering eye drops but they weren’t working. And it was itchy, making Willie very uncomfortable.

The vet did an ultrasound on the eye but couldn’t see anything. We would have to take him back the next day to have him sedated and see if they could find anything. If not the eye would need to be removed. Take another guess. Yup, nothing could be seen around the eye. They had to remove the eyeball and found a small piece of a quill in behind the eye. And this is where we think a quill that was missed in his mouth made its way through his eye. Can you believe this? I had never ever thought a porcupine could do this much damage.

Next on the list was the persistent itching of his eye. More meds for infections and itching. He eventually was put on prednisone and then we had to wean him off that drug. Somewhere around the first week of April we were finally able to remove Willie’s cone (about his 8th one) and he has a new-found freedom. He can wander around the house without running into furniture or doorways and branches no longer get in his way as he runs through the trees. My legs have fewer bruises from me running into that darn cone. What an ordeal this dog has been through.

About 6 weeks ago a porcupine was found on our property while out walking the dogs. Yeah, he isn’t wandering around anymore. We don’t need any more encounters of the “quilly” kind.

What would usually have been a trip to the vet and our dog being better in a day or two dragged on for about 5 months. He was so listless a lot of that time. It was like a 12-year-old dog instead of a dog coming into the age of 2. We weren’t sure he was going to survive this attack. Take care of your pets and watch out for those prickly pears. They can create a lot of havoc for your dog’s life which ultimately impacts your life. And keep a few extra $$ around for those veterinary bills.

Time for a song. Have you guessed it? It is by Neil Diamond from his album Hot August Night from 1973 “Porcupine Pie”. It took me a few minutes to remember a song about a porcupine, but I knew there was one by Neil Diamond. I did have to look up the album to remember the name of it though. I still have some memory cells left!

Until next time … take care and enjoy the change of a new season.

Merle Lee Ann Pratt – merleleeannskitchen.com – Email: merleleeann@gmail.com

This column is sponsored by MacKenzie Funeral Chapel and Crematorium – We will be there when you need us – Bev and Brian Stobbs

130 9th St. E, Prince Albert, SK

Phone: (306) 763-8488 – https://mackenziechapel.ca/

by Merle Lee Ann Pratt – Merle Lee Ann’s Kitchen, author of “A Baker’s Dozen”

An Encounter of a Quillie Kind

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